Jayantha Dhanapala

Sri Lankan Diplomat

Jayantha Dhanapala is a Sri Lankan diplomat who has served in London, Beijing, Washington D.C., and New Delhi before being appointed ambassador and permanent representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva (1984-87) and ambassador of Sri Lanka to the USA (1995-97).

As an international civil servant he was director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (1987-92) and under-secretary-general for Disarmament Affairs (1998-2003). Dhanapala is widely acclaimed for his presidency of the 1995 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference.